Catching the Beast
by Betterbuddy
Summary: PART 2 of Dancing with the Beast. Spoiler Alert for S9's Nature of the Beast. Gibbs discovers that Tony has still been working undercover for SecNav in search of the missing microchips.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes: This is part two to Dancing with the Beast. It would also make more sense if you saw S9's Nature of the Beast. Warning: Hot off the press & still proofreading, so I apologize in advance for silly mistakes.**

**FBI Agent Fornell's Office**

"So the same gun that was used to kill our NCIS agent, also killed our two terrorists." Gibbs questioned Fornell suspiciously.

"Yes, Gibbs, so we are still looking into possible connections to the murder weapon."

"You do have suspects." Gibbs said more as a question.

"I cannot say, Gibbs. I did talk with Director Vance about this. And, NCIS received a report of the death investigation with no suspect found." Fornell answered. He watched as Gibbs paced around the room, even more quiet than usual.

"Is there something wrong, Gibbs?" Fornell asked.

"SecNav wants to split up my team." Gibbs stated.

"Why exactly?" Fornell asked, who was curious about the concept but also skeptical that Gibbs was messing with him.

"SecNav and Vance feel I would be easier to handle, if I didn't feel so comfortable around my team." Gibbs said. Fornell started to laugh, which only irritated Gibbs more.

"Gibbs, last week you were ranting how you kept getting lectured by Vance about the _need to know_ policy." Fornell explained, as he continued to laugh. Gibbs shot him an angered look.

"Now, you do _know _and the SecNav is angry." Fornell said. "So you are angry about the consequence."

"What is your point?" Gibbs shot back.

"It was _need to know_. You are threatening the _new_ SecNav's authority." Fornell explained. "Can't you just play nice with others, Gibbs?" Annoyed with Fornell's comments, Gibbs finally stood up and prepared to leave.

"Gibbs?" Fornell said in a serious tone. "You are the best. You are an excellent investigator and even better team leader. SecNav would not seriously consider breaking up your team." Fornell said.

"DiNozzo has been repeatedly pressured to lead his own team in Rota, Spain. McGee might be next and this might happen soon." Gibbs added. "They have been reassigned before. DiNozzo was an agent afloat aboard the USS Ronald Reagan and the Seahawk."

"Mmmh, so if you continue to question SecNav's authority by sticking your nose in investigations that you have not been assigned to, then DiNozzo as well as the rest of your team will be reassigned. Does the team know about this?"

"The field team does." Gibbs answered.

"The field team?" Fornell repeated. "Your field team has seen you this upset?"

"What is your point?" Gibbs asked.

"My point is your behavior even has me rattled right now. Your team has to be feeling pretty insecure right now with your lack of confidence. Since when, is your field team incapable of taking care of themselves?"

"DiNozzo was almost killed—twice now. . ." Gibbs angrily shot back at Fornell. ". . .because of the SecNav's assignment.

"He was almost killed because of his involvement with the ONI's microchips. So why aren't you protecting him?" Fornell asked.

"He is still in the hospital, and I have been ordered not to. Vance hasn't left his side." Gibbs answered. "Hey, how did you find out about the microchips, Fornell? That is the Navy's mess, and SecNav is quietly trying to cover it up."

"It is not a secret anymore, Gibbs. Every agency is now involved in the search." Fornell explained.

"What changed?" Gibbs responded perplexed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hospital**

"Hey Tony." Gibbs said, as he walked in on DiNozzo reading his magazine.

"Hey Boss. What is new?" DiNozzo asked. DiNozzo knew Gibbs was looking him over.

"How are you feeling?" Gibbs asked. "You ready to get out of here yet?"

"More than words can say, Boss." DiNozzo answered intensely.

"Let's go then. I am signing you out." Gibbs said to DiNozzo's interest and surprise. DiNozzo shot up from Gibbs' comment, ready to leave.

"What are you doing, Gibbs?" Vance asked opening the door.

"DiNozzo is checking out." Gibbs answered. DiNozzo quickly became quiet and withdrawn again, looking down at his sheets and avoiding eye contact with Vance. "And, he is coming with me." Gibbs said forcefully.

"Gibbs." Vance said in a warning tone.

"Leon." Gibbs said in a warning tone of his own that he would not argue about this. The no-nonsense tone of Gibbs' voice made DiNozzo get out of bed and change in the bathroom. As Tony packed up his stuff and got ready to sign his discharge papers, he could not avoid making eye contact with Vance, who was giving him wordless warnings.

"Let's go, Tony." Gibbs ordered. Tony followed Gibbs, but the repeated warnings he had gotten from Vance while he was in the hospital kept him very closed lipped for the time being. Tony got into Gibbs car. After some time driving, Tony noticed that he did not know where they were at.

"Where are we going, Boss?"

"You'll see soon." Gibbs answered. After a few hours of driving, Gibbs drove up a long driveway to a cabin located at the top of a hill in the middle of forest land.

"Tony." Gibbs said with a smile, as he got out of the car. On the backseat, he picked up the manila envelope that he had gotten from the safety deposit box. When DiNozzo did not move, Gibbs walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. "Tony?" Gibbs said again this time softly with a hint of concern. DiNozzo got out of the car and followed Gibbs to the cabin door. After knocking several times, the door opened to reveal the former Secretary of the Navy Phillip Davenport.

"Agent Gibbs." Davenport said in surprise. "Agent DiNozzo, would you come in?" Davenport said solemnly and reluctantly. Gibbs entered first and DiNozzo followed Davenport to his living room.

"I have been staying by myself here, since E.J. . . . since she died."

"I am sorry, Mr. Secretary, sir." DiNozzo said sympathetically, feeling uncomfortable about being there and now interrupting his grieving process. Gibbs put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Sit down, Tony." He said guiding him toward the couch. Gibbs sat down next to him.

"We would like to make sure that the people responsible for Agent Barrett's death are brought to justice. The man responsible for poisoning her and then injected himself is a member of the Phantom Eight. Here is a picture of the eight man squad that is led by Sean Latham." Gibbs laid down the picture that he found from Mike Franks' file on the coffee table for him to see. DiNozzo also looked, surprised by how Gibbs had such a picture. He was glued to it and examined the photo for other members that he knew.

"And, your niece died protecting these files." Gibbs then pulled out the manila folder from Tony's safety deposit box. "Can you help us here?"

"Right before I resigned, I gave Latham an okay to try a new strategy to stop terrorist that involved essentially giving our enemies access to the Watcher Database, using the microchips with a special GPS feature installed to track who was using the chips. Right when I resigned and Levin died, I gave E.J. an order to handle Levin's new microchip. However, Latham had different ideas under a new SecNav and went ahead with his strategy without the new SecNav's approval. He sold all of the new microchips to the highest bidders."

"What happened to you, Agent DiNozzo?" Davenport asked curiously.

"Uhh, Members of Phantom eight gunned me down in my apartment. E.J. was there too, sir." DiNozzo said. "We were ordered to follow some terrorists that had one of those microchips."

"They were compromised. Then she was injected with poison at the hospital." Gibbs added obviously irritated with that fact.

"You have to recover those microchips." Davenport said.

"We have been ordered by the new SecNav to stay out of it. And, there have even been threats of our team being split up by pursuing this."

"Let me see what I can do, Gibbs." Davenport said enigmatically, not giving any details of his plans away.

"Thank you, Mr. Secretary." Gibbs said, shaking his hand.

"Agent Gibbs. Agent DiNozzo. "

Gibbs and DiNozzo headed back to the car. Gibbs started the car and felt Tony's eyes watching him, as he started down the long driveway.

"Tony?" He finally said. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Boss, I have been ordered to. . ." DiNozzo started to say but stopped.

"Track the other microchips? I am cancelling that order, Tony." Gibbs said forcefully, returning Tony's stare.

"That order came from Vance. Not all of the microchips where given to the wrong people. Do we really want to deactivate them?" Tony started to argue and question Gibbs.

"Yes Boss." Tony said, after receiving the strong Gibbs stare. Tony swallowed hard, looked down, and remained quiet.

Gibbs pulled up at his home. They both got out of the car and headed inside.

"Your clothes were brought here in several suit cases. They are sitting in the bedroom." Gibbs said.

"Oh, thank you, Boss." Tony said surprised and appreciative.

**Next Day in the Squad Room**

"Tony!" Abby screamed as Gibbs and DiNozzo got off the elevator and headed for the squad room.

"Tony!" Abby yelled and jumped into the arms of DiNozzo.

"Ugh, hey Abs." Tony strained himself as he grabbed her and nearly fell over backwards. Gibbs smiled and tried to steady DiNozzo.

"Good Morning Gibbs. Good Morning, Tony. Welcome back." Ziva said.

"Good Morning, Ziva. Thanks." Tony responded with a smile. "McGeeeeeee!" Tony said with opened arms.

"Good Morning." McGee said as he typed away. "Good to see you back Tony. Oh, I talked with your father yesterday."

"No!" Tony asked with a haunted look.

"He called your desk." McGee added.

"Please tell me that you didn't tell him I was in the hospital." Tony begged.

"Ugh, I did actually. He wanted to know where you were and how to reach you. He specifically asked me if you were okay, so I did tell him that you were about to be discharged." McGee said.

"Boss, we had a body delivered to autopsy this morning. It is the body of Navy Lieutenant Commander Russell Nguyen. Died at sea, and the USS Seahawk just docked."

"Nguyen?" Tony repeated.

"Yeah why?" McGee asked, realizing the answer as soon as he asked it. "You were once the agent afloat aboard the USS Seahawk."

"How well did you know him, Tony?" Gibbs asked concerned, not liking that the victim was someone a- still-recovering Tony knew.

"I just knew him professionally and for only a very short time. I really wasn't aboard the Seahawk that long." Tony answered and cringed at the thought that he did know the victim.

"Yeah, this is Gibbs." Gibbs said into his ringing cellphone. "I'll be right down, Duck."

"Tony? Did you want to come?" Gibbs asked cautiously before he headed to autopsy, now wishing he did not even offer.

"Sure, Boss." Tony answered. Tony followed Gibbs to autopsy a little hesitant now of what he just volunteered himself for.

Gibbs and Tony entered autopsy to find the commander stretched across a metal table. Tony approached the table with Gibbs, but he once again could not look at the face of the victim.

"Anthony!" Ducky yelled excited to see him. Tony jumped at first.

"Hey Ducky. How are you?" Tony responded to Ducky's greeting.

"Oh Anthony, you have missed so much in your absence. Mr. Palmer will have to catch you up to speed on Brenna. Also the tap dancing classes that you and Mr. Palmer were taking." Ducky's latest comment earned a small laugh from Gibbs. "But, I am up to four dates now with the lovely Ms. Whiley from next door, Anthony."

Gibbs waited for Ducky to finish before asking some investigator questions.

"So what do we know about our victim?" Gibbs asked.

"His body was found near a storage area on the ship. He was strangled from behind. He does have a small incision on his left wrist, indicating a microchip was in his arm." Ducky's comment caused DiNozzo to shudder, which did not go unnoticed by either of them.

"Tony, are you all right? You want to go back upstairs?" Gibbs asked, walking over to him to see how he was handling the topic. Ducky joined him as they both watched Tony.

"I talked with the current Agent Afloat aboard the USS Seahawk this morning. He ordered that anyone who had contact with Ngugen in the last six hours to remain aboard, so you could question them." Ducky offered Gibbs, but they both watched a distant Tony.

"All right, Tony. Let us go aboard the Seahawk. Okay?" Gibbs said walking closer to the distracted field agent. After Ducky whispered his name too with no reaction, Gibbs grabbed his arm just above the elbow.

"Are you all right Tony?" Ducky asked, noticing the lost look in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, sorry Duck. . .yes, I am fine." Tony said with a smile. Gibbs kept his grip on Tony arm.

"Let's go Tony." Gibbs said softly, pushing Tony toward the elevator door. As Gibbs hit the button for the squad room, he noticed that Tony had gone back into a quiet and withdrawn state. Angrily, Gibbs slammed the emergency stop, causing Tony to jump.

"Okay Tony." Gibbs started to say, softening his tone. "You need to talk to me. What is on your mind?" Gibbs asked.

"I a-I just was wondering how far back this microchip thing goes. You know, maybe he had that thing in his arm back when I was an agent afloat." Tony explained. Tony closed his eyes and tilted his head up toward the ceiling of the elevator.

"It is possible." Gibbs offered, watching Tony suspiciously. "Tony?"

"I'd like to get my hands on one of those microchips. Just to see what the buzz is all about." Tony admitted to Gibbs. Frustrated, Gibbs gave him a disapproving look but also nodded in agreement.

"Don't get any ideas, though, DiNozzo." Gibbs warned softly, which earned a small laugh from Tony. After Gibbs released the emergency stop, they quickly reentered to the squad room.

McGee and Ziva watched as they reentered, waiting to following Gibbs' lead.  
>"All right. We need to get to the Seahawk, and question those aboard, who last saw our dead commander."<p>

**Vance's Office**

"Before you do that, Gibbs. . . " Vance entered the room, causing everyone to refocus. "I need to see you in my office Gibbs. I need you and Agent DiNozzo." Gibbs turned to look at Tony, who looked surprised, but who immediately stood up to follow. Gibbs and Tony followed Vance up to his office. When the door opened, it revealed Secretary of Navy Jarvis and Sean Latham. Tony tensed up when seeing them both, which did not go unnoticed by Gibbs. As they went to sit down at the table, Gibbs gave him a gentle nudge to show that they were in this together.

"All the microchips have been recovered." Latham explained. "At least the microchips that fell into the wrong hands." Gibbs gave him a disapproving stare.

"So, I am pulling Agent DiNozzo from this assignment." SecNav explained. "There is no longer a threat." Gibbs nodded in understanding but did not believe anything being said. "And, there is no longer a need to search for these microchips."

"Is that understood?" Vance added.

"Yes." Gibbs said lying, not believing anything that he heard.

"Yes, sir." DiNozzo said, nervously agreeing, constantly watching Latham's moves.

"All right then." Vance said, standing up indicated that they needed to leave. Gibbs and DiNozzo looked at each other and prepared to leave the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**USS Seahawk**

"All right, you two go interview the crew." Gibbs ordered Ziva and McGee.

"Tony, you are with me." Gibbs and DiNozzo went to through commander's quarters.

"Boss!" Tony said sharply. Gibbs looked over quickly to find Tony holding an envelope, which also contained a microchip.

"Bag it DiNozzo, don't get any ideas." Gibbs ordered, thinking back to Tony's comment earlier about using the database himself.

"Latham just told us that the microchips were all accounted for." DiNozzo pointed out. Gibbs turned and looked at DiNozzo suspiciously. He finally nodded in agreement.

"Tony?" Gibbs said putting out his hand. Tony handed him the envelope and the microchip. Gibbs shoved it into his pocket, but then looked through the envelope.

"There are about five pages of Intel here, gathered this morning." Gibbs said. ". . .Something about a new target in the D.C. area."

"Does it say where or who?" DiNozzo said in concern. Gibbs shook his head in frustration.

"Hey." Gibbs turned toward DiNozzo. "What is going on between you and Vance?" Gibbs asked bluntly, expecting DiNozzo to know exactly what he meant. Tony gave a short awkward laugh.

"I don't know, Boss, but he has never been nicer to me." DiNozzo answered more surprised by his answer than the question itself. "But, it seems like he is fishing for information."

"Fishing?" Gibbs asked confused.

"Just like you, he does not have a clear picture of what is going on with the microchips. So, when he would come into my hospital room, he would try to initiate a conversation with the most basic information about my assignment, which led me to believe at first that he was aware of what was going on."

They both jumped when they heard shots being fired. DiNozzo and Gibbs ran from the room to the common area where Ziva and McGee were.

"Gibbs!" Ziva yelled. "The shooter just ran this way." Gibbs and DiNozzo followed Ziva up the stairway and out on the top deck only to lose him.

"What happened, Ziva?"

"He came out of nowhere and shot her right in front of me." They returned to McGee trying to administer first aid on the victim. DiNozzo grabbed his cellphone and dialed for an ambulance. They gathered around in an attempt to help stop the bleeding. Despite their efforts to save her, she took her last breath.

"Ziva? Was the shooter someone from this photo?" Gibbs asked, pulling out the photo that he had of the Phantom Eight.

"Yes, actually, it was him." Ziva said, as she pointed to the picture of Casey Stratton.

"He killed Cade. And, he shot both Barrett and me that night." Tony added. McGee and Ziva looked over at Tony in concern.

"So he followed us here?" McGee asked. "Is he watching Tony or was he just focused on covering up this investigation?"

McGee's question had the team focused on Tony's safety again.

"Tony, I want you to stay at the Navy Yard during this investigation." Gibbs ordered softly, anticipating an argument.

"Boss, come on, we just found that. . ." Tony started to say, indicating the microchip that he wanted to use.

"No Tony." Gibbs said.

"Boss." Tony continued to argue. "He never came after me, and he had an opportunity."

"Ziva, take him back to the Navy Yard." Gibbs ordered, ignoring DiNozzo's comments.

"Yes, Gibbs." Ziva responded, pulling Tony's arm in an effort to get him to follow.

"Give that to Vance, Boss." Tony suggested without giving details to the rest of the team. Gibbs looked over at Tony in surprise that he would feel comfortable giving the microchip that they just found to Director Vance.

**Squad Room**

Gibbs and McGee stepped off the elevator after processing the scene at the Seahawk to find DiNozzo sitting, obviously depressed, at his desk with Ziva sitting quietly across from him. Unable to look up at Gibbs, Tony fiddled with his pencil. Gibbs set down his bag and pulled out the envelope with the microchip.

"Whoa, Gibbs, where did you get that?" Ziva asked, causing McGee and DiNozzo to look over as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**MTAC**

"Tony, with me." Gibbs said. They approached Vance's office only to have the secretary say that Vance was in MTAC. Gibbs and DiNozzo entered MTAC to find Vance communicating with an admiral. When the conversation ended, Vance turned to them.

"What do you have for me, Gibbs?" Vance asked, regarding both him and DiNozzo.

"What do you make of this, Director?" Gibbs asked, holding up the microchip. Vance could not contain his surprise.

"Where did you find that?" Vance asked. "Latham just told us this morning that they were all accounted for."

"We found it in the quarters of our dead Navy commander. He too had an incision in his wrist." Gibbs added.

"But he removed the microchip himself?" Vance asked.

"Maybe he discovered that he was being tracked that way?" DiNozzo added.

"The Intel that was downloaded here says that an attack in D.C. is pending. It was downloaded this morning." Gibbs explained.

"May I?" Vance asked pointing to the chip. Vance picked up the chip and handed it to a technician in the room. "Access the Watcher Database using this chip for me." He ordered. Up on the MTAC screen, the information that had been printed was found along with updated information on the target.

"NCIS headquarters!" Tony shouted.

"The target is us." Gibbs added looking at Vance.

"I am calling SecNav, and I am having the building evacuated." Vance announced.

"Wait, we don't know exactly what these terrorist plan to do. It could be just a Cyber attack." Gibbs said.

"Highly unlikely." Vance said, as he initiated the evacuation. "If you want your team to continue to investigate, I won't argue with that, Gibbs."

"Let's go." Gibbs said, nudging Tony to leave the room. "Catch Ziva and McGee up to speed."

**Squad Room**

"Hey guys." Tony said as he ran into the room. "We read some stuff of that microchip. NCIS headquarters is the target of a terrorist attack."

"Oh my!" Ziva said. McGee stood up slowly in reaction of the shocking news.

"Vance is evacuating the building. Boss wants us to find out how the attack will take place to try and stop it." Tony explained.

"McGee." McGee answered his ringing cellphone. "On my way, Director." McGee said. "Vance wants me to join him in MTAC to hopefully get more information off of that microchip."

"Hey, remind Vance though, that the microchip does have a tracking device, McGee." Tony suggested.

"Sure Tony." McGee said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, at the idea of telling Vance to deactivate the chip.

"McGee!" Tony said sharply, after being blown off. "Stratton has a microchip. If he or any other Phantom eight are in the building, you might be able to track them now, McEgghead."

"Agent David." Ziva answered her ringing phone. "Yes, I will take care of them, Gibbs."

"Gibbs wants me to personally escort Abby, Ducky, and Palmer from the building."

Tony circled, noticing that he was the only one around. The elevator doors opened, to reveal Agent Fornell.

"Fornell, how did you even get in here? The building is being evacuated." Tony said sarcastically.

"Where is Gibbs, Tony?" He asked, looking DiNozzo over and remembering what Gibbs had shared with him earlier.

"He is in MTAC." DiNozzo answered.

"No, I am here." Gibbs said as he reentered the squad room.

"What is up?" He asked Fornell.

"We traced the weapon down that killed the NCIS agent and the two terrorist." Fornell started to explain, acknowledging that this was not a very private area to discuss this, looking at DiNozzo and around the room for anyone else listening. "Can we talk in private?" He asked Gibbs.

"We have a situation here, Tobias, just say it." Gibbs shot back, in obvious irritation.

"The gun used to kill them is registered to Secretary of Navy Clayton Jarvis." Agent Fornell whispered to Gibbs. Gibbs just stood there examining Fornell, as Tony's jaw literally dropped. "We don't know if he actually fired the weapon. . ."

". . .but the weapon was registered to him." Gibbs added shaking his head in disbelief. "When this situation is resolved, I will confront him about it."

"You are right to be concerned about your team, Gibbs." Fornell added.

". . .only if he really is the one that killed them." Gibbs tried to defend his SecNav.

"Gibbs, come on. . .what are the chances that someone stole his personal weapon and used it to kill the terrorists and the NCIS agent." Fornell yelled at him, trying to lay out the facts in front of Gibbs. "I know there are no such things as coincidences. But, come on Gibbs. . ."

Gibbs shook his head and started to move away from Fornell.

"DiNozzo." Tony answered his ringing phone. "Okay, thanks McGee, I will tell Gibbs."

"Boss." Tony said, which caused Gibbs to stop before he left the room. "MTAC is tracking another microchip in the building."

"What can I do, Gibbs?" Fornell asked.

"Help us find him. He is somewhere in this building." Gibbs said, drawing his side arm. "Tony?"

"I'll start downstairs." Tony said heading for the elevator.

"Fornell, stay here and guard MTAC." Gibbs ordered, as he followed Tony to the elevator. Gibbs punched in another floor on the elevator panel.

"Be careful, Tony." Gibbs said. Tony shook his head looking down. Gibbs went to autopsy and Abby's lab. Tony went to the evidence garage and the evidence lockup. Tony entered the room with his gun drawn with a flashlight, flashing the light quickly around the room.

A quick, bright flash from behind the evidence lockup gate caught his attention. Tony cautiously approached the gate.

"Gibbs, I might have something." Tony said into his earpiece, when he found a box that appeared to be sparking. He quickly came upon the box as well as the source of their threat. Tony quickly pulled a gun on Casey Stratton standing there with a remote detonator near the box strapped with dynamite.

"There is only five minutes left on this timer, DiNozzo." Stratton said.

"Gibbs." Tony said again into his earpiece.

"Right here, Tony. Put that down, Stratton." Gibbs said, as he too entered the area. Tony turned to see Gibbs join them, as well as McGee, Fornell, and Vance.

"I have deactivated that remote, Stratton with this signal jammer." McGee added.

"That bomb is still set to go off." Stratton informed them. Vance walked over to it and opened the box. Without hesitation, he snipped one of the wires, which deactivated the bomb. Then he yanked out the wick to the dynamite.

"Whoa, Director." McGee shouted." I am sorry about that. Good work, sir." McGee said, shocked that he effectively disabled the bomb.

"That a hobby of yours, Leon?" Gibbs smiled at him suspiciously. Vance just smiled deviously. Now that he was both relaxed and confident that the threat was over for now, Vance ordered that Stratton be taken to holding. Gibbs and Tony went over to handcuff the suspect. Tony pulled Stratton's gun from his holster.

"Tony, let me see that gun." Fornell said quickly. "This. . .could be the gun that killed both the NCIS agent and the two terrorists." With Gibbs holding Stratton, Tony handcuffed him and they took him to holding.

"Or it could be another coincidence." Fornell whispered into Gibbs' ear, not totally convinced that Jarvis was incapable of murder.


	5. Chapter 5

**Vance's Office**

"Nice work today, Gibbs." Vance said leaning back in his chair, as Gibbs stood in front of him. "This has been a tough few months." Vance shared with him once again how frustrated he has been since he was shot. "Is Agent DiNozzo okay?"

"I haven't talked with him yet, since this happened. Why?" Gibbs asked suspiciously, not liking how DiNozzo's name was specifically mentioned again.

"He looked like he needed a drink after all this took place today." Vance shared with him his suspicions on Agent DiNozzo. "You know he feels responsible for Agent Barrett's death."

"But, it isn't his fault." Gibbs shot back.

"No it's not. You are right." Vance agreed with him. "But, try convincing him of that."

Gibbs glared at Vance. "He is my responsibility. I'll take care of him." Gibbs shot back at him.

"Your team-your rules, Gibbs." Vance repeated his earlier line.

"Am I going to lose my team, Leon?" Gibbs shot back at him angrily.

"No, I would say that your team is secure, especially after you prevented NCIS headquarters from being blown up." Vance answered, with a partial grin. Gibbs nodded, returned a grin, and went to leave the room. Standing just outside Vance's office were DiNozzo and SecNav.

"I am still not interested, sir." Tony managed to answer before noticing that Gibbs was standing right there. Embarrassed, Tony quickly looked down away from Gibbs. Gibbs approached them.

"Is everything all right, Tony?" Gibbs asked, as he saw the way Tony ducked away from him.

"Yes, Agent Gibbs. Everything is fine here." Secretary Jarvis answered for Tony, as he gave Gibbs an irritated look, but then refocused his attention on DiNozzo.

"Tony?" Gibbs said again, trying to get DiNozzo to look at him.

"Everything is fine, Boss." Tony said softly, with an uncomfortable smile at Gibbs. Although there was a part of him that felt he should let this go, Gibbs also wanted to get his point across with the SecNav.

"Are you messing with my team, Mr. Secretary?" Gibbs shot back at the SecNav.

"Boss!" Tony tried to intervene, even waving his arms in the air to get Gibbs to stop.

"Excuse me?" Secretary Jarvis said.

"You said I would get DiNozzo back when you were done with him. I think you are done with him now, aren't you?" Gibbs asked very bluntly.

"Gibbs." Vance tried to intercede before Gibbs said something he would regret.

"Let's go, Tony." Gibbs said. Tony looked around at all three of them.

"Go ahead." Secretary Jarvis said to Tony also, as he continued to stare down Gibbs. Gibbs watched as SecNav joined Vance in his office. Vance treated Gibbs with an irate glare.

"Come here." Gibbs grabbed Tony by the back of the arm and pulled him into the conference room.

"Boss." Tony said quickly, but Gibbs interrupted.

"You have to put your foot down, so he stops bugging you about Rota, Spain. You say no, so he knows you mean it, Tony."

"Yes, I mean-I know. You are right, Boss." Tony started to explain. "However, we weren't talking about Rota, Spain. Jarvis asked me if I needed some time off. He offered me up to a month paid time off."

"Oh well, yeah, you should take it Tony." Gibbs said, starting to join an already laughing Tony.

"I thought you heard the whole discussion, with your super-superior hearing and all." Tony said with a smile. "Honestly, I probably could have used the time just to clean up that _**mess**_ at my apartment."

"Why didn't you just say yes then?" Gibbs asked with a smile, as they headed toward the elevator.

"Ah, I was worried I would just spend it . . .you know." Tony's demeanor changed.

"Drinking?" Gibbs added, giving Tony a critical stare, as the elevator started down to the garage.

"Yeah." Tony nodded in agreement.

"Boss?" Tony started to say. Gibbs turned to look at him, sensing Tony's serious tone.

"Thank you, Boss." Tony said. Gibbs smiled and nodded, as they headed for the parking lot.

~The End


End file.
